63rd Voting Academy

Abby Wilson

Abby is the 1 News Sports Editor at TVNZ and has spent more than a decade covering Kiwi athletes and their achievements. She’s reported on Olympic and Commonwealth Games as well as America’s Cups and World Championships. Her award winning journalism has taken her around Aotearoa and the world and given her a front row seat to some of our most iconic sporting moments.

Daryl Gibson

DJ Forbes

Alice Soper

Andrew Alderson

Andrew writes and broadcasts for NZME, predominantly on cricket and the Olympic disciplines with Newstalk ZB and the New Zealand Herald. He has regularly worked as a correspondent overseas and currently presents the sports news on The Mike Hosking Breakfast.

Alison Shanks

Marc Hinton

Ollie Ritchie

Andrew Mulligan

Ben Fouhy

2003 World Champion K1 1000m
2003 Halberg Sportman of the Year
2004 Olympic Silver medallist K1 1000m
2006-2011 Holder of Worlds Best Time K1 1000m

Ben Lucas

Bernadine Oliver-Kerby

Dan Buckingham

A former Paralympic athlete, Dan represented New Zealand in wheelchair rugby with the ‘Wheel Blacks’ for 16 years, including being part of the Gold Medal winning team at Athens 2004 and captaining the side in Beijing 2008. Locally, he represented Canterbury and Auckland, as well as playing for teams in Australia, Canada and the USA.

Dan has been involved in the governance of the sport with New Zealand Wheelchair Rugby and Drug-Free Sport NZ. Current governance positions are on the board of ACC, Disability Media Collective, and the Screen Production and Development Association. Executive leadership experience includes his current position as CE of Able, championing the goal of equal access to audiovisual media.

Dan also brings significant lived experience, strong networks, and knowledge of the disability sector.

Eddie Kohlhase

NZ Black Sox – 1983 – 1995
NZ Black Sox Coach 2004 – 2013
World Champion 1984, 2000, 2004, 2013
World Baseball – Softball Hall of Fame
NZ Softball Hall of Fame
NZ Order of Merit 2015
Current General Manager High Performance Sport NZ

Dame Farah Palmer

Dr. Farah Palmer is a former New Zealand rugby union player and a prominent figure in women’s rugby. A trailblazer in the sport, she played for the New Zealand Black Ferns, earning 35 caps. Palmer was a key player in the team’s multiple Rugby World Cup victories, helping lead the Black Ferns to triumph in 1998, 2002, and 2006. Known for her leadership and expertise as a lock, she was integral to the team’s success and is regarded as one of the best players in women’s rugby history.

After retiring from playing, Dr. Palmer earned a PhD in education and became an advocate for women in sport, furthering her impact through her work as a coach, academic, and administrator. She has been a strong voice for gender equality in sports and continues to contribute to the growth and development of women’s rugby worldwide.

Fred Woodcock

Grace Prendergast

Grace is a double Olympian, Olympic Gold and Silver Medallist, 5 x world champion, current holder of two worlds best times, and was ranked the number one female rower in the world for two consecutive years. She represented New Zealand in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020(1) Olympic Games in rowing and won a Gold Medal in the pair and silver in the eight in the Tokyo. Additionally she is a Masters Graduate from the University of Cambridge and Cambridge vs Oxford boat race winner. She has been recognised for her services to Rowing and Leadership by being appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and Honorary Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge. Since retiring from Sport, Grace has remained involved in rowing and commentates at regattas such as Henley Royal Regatta and The Boat Race and is a presenter for World Rowing at International Regattas.

Grant Sharman

In 1977 aged 15, Grant broke his neck playing rugby. After three months in Middlemore Hospital, Grant was transferred to the newly opened Spinal Unit with the distinction of being it’s first patient. Grant was resident at the Spinal Unit from 1977-1988.

Grant played wheelchair rugby and was a member of the New Zealand Wheel Blacks at the 1995 and 1998 World Championships and 1996 and 2000 Paralympics, captain for the last three events. In 2003 he was appointed the Wheel Blacks Coach and the team went on to win the Gold medal at the 2004 Athens Paralympics and the Silver medal at the 2006 World Championships in Christchurch. Grant was also Paralympics NZ’s High Performance Director from 2008-2012.

Being a member of The Halberg Sport Award’s judging team is both an honour and a privilege. It is an extraordinarily challenging task as you are comparing our best athletes achieving great things in a vast array of sports and competitions, all with their own points of difference.
I reconcile this by reminding myself we are celebrating NZ sports, athletes and coaches.

Hayden Meikle

Hayden is the sports editor at the Otago Daily Times newspaper in Dunedin. He previously served as the paper’s rugby writer and assistant editor, and is also a former editor of the Oamaru Mail. He has been a journalist since 1998.

Mary Fisher

Paul Allison

Paul Allison MNZM is a former New Zealand athletics representative with over 30 years of experience as a sports broadcaster. He has served as CEO of Sport Otago, a Board Member of Sport NZ, and is a Life Trustee of the Halberg Foundation, reflecting his lifelong commitment to sport and inclusion.

Ron Cheatley

Ruth Aitken

Sarah Walker

Irene van Dyk

Originally from South Africa, where I played 72 tests for the national team, I immigrated to New Zealand in 2000 and became a Silver Fern and the most capped player.

Over my 20-year international career, I played 217 combined test caps. Since retiring from international netball in 2014, I have remained actively involved in the sport, focusing on grassroots development, coaching, and promoting inclusion and participation across all levels of netball.

I am a passionate advocate for youth development, community engagement, and fostering a lifelong love for the game. Initiatives such as futureFERNS, male participation and No limits netball and my commitment to creating inclusive environments exemplify my passion for my sport.

Ivan Vicelich

Jan Shearer

Storm Purvis

Former Silver Fern turned broadcaster. Storm has hosted the Halbergs, is cohost of Crowd Goes Wild, and has worked on netball, football, rugby league, the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games as a reporter/presenter for Sky Sport. Storm is also a board member of the NZNPA.

Jayne Craike mnzm

I represented New Zealand at Atlanta, Sydney & Athens Paralympic Games in equestrian dressage, winning Gold and Silver medals in Sydney. I have also won golds at the European, British and Australian Championships and also multiple NZ Championships along the way.

My husband and I built Showfields Equestrian Centre, one of the biggest indoor equestrian venues in the country, which is still active today.
I was an equestrian judge for over 15 years, and a rider and trainer for 25 years.

I was the founding member of Para Equestrian NZ which became the 5th discipline within Equestrian Sports NZ.
In 2001 I was awarded the title Member of New Zealand Order of Merit for services to equestrian sport.

It has been a fabulous journey representing my country, and being involved from grass roots to international level.
And having now retired, it is a great honour to be a Halberg Judge.

Jodi Brown

Joseph Sullivan

Karl Tenana

Former Rugby World Cup 7s winning captain. 2x Hong Kong player of the tournament. Commonwealth games gold medal. 4x World sevens series winner. Maori All Black. New Zealand secondary schools. Superrugby. Current Producer and head of commentary @World Rugby

Katey Martin

Kirstie Stanway

Lesley Murdoch

Toni Street

Phillipa Gray

Sarah Cowley Ross

Steven Holloway

Host of Between Two Beers podcast, former Premium Sports Editor of the NZ Herald.

Suzanne McFadden

Suzanne McFadden is an award-winning sports writer of four decades, a book author and podcaster.

Dame Sophie Pascoe

New Zealand’s most decorated para-athlete,
19 Paralympic medals (including eleven gold) across four Games, 17 IPC world titles, and multiple world records.

In 2018 Dame Sophie was named flag-bearer and team captain at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, becoming the first para-athlete to lead the New Zealand team out at a major Games.

Advocate for inclusion, diversity and equality

Apprentice Swimming New Zealand board member

Most recently, Dame Sophie became a mother to a son with her husband Rob.

Tom Bartlett

Tom is one of New Zealand’s most experienced sports journalists having covered global sports events including the Rugby World Cup, Commonwealth Games and Olympics and Paralympics Games.